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As the recession ends, the beauty products industry is one of the ‘unsuspecting’ sectors which have surprised analysts this earnings season, with better-than-expected results. Estee Lauder Co. is the latest to report results for its first quarter which trumped analysts’ estimates of US$0.34 per share, with a profit of US$140.7M or US$0.71 per share, up from US$51.1M or US$0.26 per share a year earlier.

Estee Lauder boasted higher earnings across all of its segments, which were helped by improved demand in Asia.

After swinging to a loss in its fourth quarter ended June 30, 2009, the bad news keeps coming in for The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. The beauty products company was added to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s “Conviction Sell” list earlier this week – on concerns that its shares are overvalued.

According to an analyst at Goldman Sachs, “Estee Lauder has overshot its fundamental value on optimism around the company’s restructuring plan and the potential for a return to solid sales growth as the economy recovers.” As a consequence, Estee Lauder’s share price fell 2.39% to close at US$ 38.73 on this news.